Upon returning to Happiness Apartments, Yue Shi was walking up the stairs when he happened to run into Old Man Qin heading down.
After a brief greeting, Yue Shi slowed his pace and turned to watch Old Man Qin's retreating back.
Once home, he collapsed onto the sofa, closed his eyes, and let his consciousness sink into the mysterious space.
According to this world's classification of power levels for transcendents, there were five tiers.
However, Yue Shi wasn't sure which tier he currently occupied. After all, he had obtained his supernatural power through the black stone tablet, which made him different from ordinary transcendents. Furthermore, he was essentially a rogue transcendent with only a superficial understanding of the basic common knowledge of the supernatural world.
“I wonder if there’s a supernatural power that allows one to travel through time and space...”
While he was lost in thought, a faint, strange sound suddenly reached his ears.
Yue Shi's consciousness snapped back instantly. He opened his eyes and scanned the room with a sharp, alert gaze.
It was the wall.
Something seemed to be scratching at the wall in the next unit—a rustling sound, like white noise.
After Cai Zetao had been taken away, the neighboring unit should have been vacant. There shouldn't be such a sound.
When Yue Shi pressed his ear against the wall to listen closely, the sound vanished, not reappearing for a long time.
He sat back on the sofa and waited for a moment before the scratching sound started up again.
He approached the wall to listen once more, and once again, it went silent.
This situation was clearly problematic.
“Should I go check it out?”
As soon as the thought surfaced, Yue Shi pushed it to the back of his mind.
Out of caution and a sense of responsibility for his own safety, he pulled out some alcohol disinfectant and used a lighter to ignite a dry towel.
Walking to the balcony, two crows emerged from his shadow. They snatched the alcohol and the burning towel, quickly flying toward the neighboring unit.
Accompanied by the sound of glass shattering, the fire began to spread quietly.
Sure enough, the strange noise coming from the wall became even more pronounced.
The scratching turned into a “thump... thump...”, sounding like a heartbeat.
The shadows transformed into a flock of crows, blocking the neighboring balcony, while Yue Shi himself turned and walked out the door, standing in the hallway.
A moment later, the neighboring door was violently smashed open from the inside, and a mass of blue-black unknown matter lunged out.
Looking closely, he realized it was a heart that was still beating!
However, this heart was covered in numerous blue-black “tentacles” that looked like venous blood vessels, resembling swaying seaweed at first glance.
Those tentacles were very powerful. Despite having no eyes, they locked onto Yue Shi immediately and surged toward him.
Yue Shi summoned his crows, focusing their attack on the heart in the center.
The blue-black tentacles immediately abandoned their offensive to shift into a defensive stance.
Unfortunately, the heart was far too fragile, like a piece of junk hardware that was completely mismatched with the powerful tentacles.
Once the heart was pecked and wounded by the crows and stopped beating, the tentacles seemed to die as well, withering one after another and losing their vitality.
Yue Shi glanced into the neighboring room. Smoke and dust billowed, flames rose, and the walls were pitted and scarred, seemingly caused by those tentacles.
He took a photo with his phone and sent it to Zhou Zhiheng: “A strange thing appeared next door to my place. It’s suspected to be related to the ‘Heart Thief.’”
In less than a minute, Zhou Zhiheng replied: “Secure the scene. I’ll be there immediately.”
Putting down his phone, Yue Shi watched the fire spread from the hallway. As long as it didn't reach him, he didn't care at all.
Perhaps another resident in the apartment had called the fire department, as the sound of sirens approached from the street. A moment later, noisy and hurried footsteps echoed up the stairs.
The first firefighters to arrive at the sixth floor were startled by the bizarre heart lying on the ground.
Yue Shi took the opportunity to explain: “A supernatural incident occurred here. The fire was caused by this entity. Don’t worry, I’ve already dealt with it and it’s no longer a threat. Please, go put out the fire.”
When it came to supernatural incidents and transcendents, the firefighters stuck to their duties and asked no further questions.
Even by the time the firefighters withdrew, the landlady, Mrs. Bai, had not shown her face.
When Zhou Zhiheng arrived with the team from Tulip Security Company, they happened to cross paths with the departing firefighters.
Zhao Lin held a small supernatural detector in his hand. As soon as they stepped onto the sixth floor and saw the heart covered in tentacles, everyone’s expression shifted.
Zhao Lin turned on the detector. The numbers on the display jumped immediately, and the indicator light glowed a pale yellow.
“It’s the residual aura left after a supernatural entity has died or departed. The fluctuations aren't strong. If there were a living supernatural entity on the scene, the red light would be flashing.”
After scanning the heart, Zhao Lin entered the neighboring unit, and the device’s indicator light gradually shifted from yellow to green.
“What exactly happened here?” Zhou Zhiheng asked Yue Shi.
“The original resident here was contaminated by the supernatural and was taken away by the Investigation Bureau for questioning. But today, I heard a very strange sound from next door, and then I saw this thing,” Yue Shi said concisely.
Zhou Zhiheng looked at the lifeless heart. “This apartment has had two such incidents in a row. Could it be that the ‘Heart Thief’ is hiding nearby?”
Yue Shi thought for a moment. “It’s a possibility. Why not use the detector to check the entire apartment building?”
“We can do that,” Zhou Zhiheng nodded and immediately instructed Zhao Lin to get to it.
A flash of an employee's resentment crossed Zhao Lin's face. Just then, people from the Investigation Bureau arrived as well.
It was their old acquaintance, Ling Xun.
Zhou Zhiheng looked at Yue Shi in surprise.
Yue Shi shook his head slightly and whispered, “I only notified the company, but the firefighters were here earlier and saw the heart too.”
Zhou Zhiheng tucked away his emotions, his face breaking into a polite, professional smile as he exchanged pleasantries with Ling Xun.
“The Investigation Bureau’s information is certainly fast...” During the conversation, Zhou Zhiheng remarked with feigned casualness.
Ling Xun simply said, “A concerned citizen reported that there was supernatural activity at Happiness Apartments.”
This wasn't the first time such an incident had occurred in this area, but since this place was on the edge of the city, the Investigation Bureau was severely understaffed and didn't have the energy to constantly monitor it.
After a careful investigation, Ling Xun spoke up. “I’ll be taking this heart with me.”
No one present objected.
Professional personnel in hazmat suits carefully placed the heart into a specialized container.
Zhao Lin had been running up and down the building. Whether he had actually checked thoroughly was unknown, but in the end, he simply reported with a blank expression, “No other abnormalities were found in the apartment.”
With the Investigation Bureau involved, Zhou Zhiheng soon left with his team.
The members of the Investigation Bureau re-inspected the apartment while Ling Xun stood to the side, chatting with Yue Shi.
“Strange things have happened at your place for several days in a row. You might have been targeted.”
Hearing Ling Xun say this, Yue Shi narrowed his eyes. “Targeted? By whom? And for what purpose...?”
The corners of Ling Xun’s mouth curled up slightly in a meaningful way. “Transcendents may possess miraculous powers, but in a certain sense, a transcendent is also a kind of... precious, scarce material!”
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